Domaine Daniel Dugois, Arbois Vin Jaune 2004

Obviously I think every wine I talk about is special in some way – it’s a One Pallet pre-requisite. But this may just take the cake.

It started out life as a white but is now a golden yellow. It was aged for a mandatory six years in barrel under a veil of yeast cells and will continue to mature gracefully for at least another 20 in the bottle. It is nutty in every sense of the word and could only come from one place: France’s Jura, lying 100km east of Burgundy on the mountain slopes of the French-Swiss border.

The picture below is a barrel of Savagnin aging ‘sous-voile’ (under the veil) in the process of slowly becoming a Vin Jaune. The ‘veil’ of white yeast cells resting on top of the wine protects it from oxidation and bacteria that can turn the wine to vinegar. This yeast layer is alive and interacts with the atmosphere. If a low pressure system passes over the region, the yeast get agitated, the barrel goes cloudy and any plans of bottling go on hold.

Each barrel is tasted just two or three times a year and any that lack that rich, nutty complexity Vin Jaune is so prized for are racked, bottled and sold as a Savignan blanc.

Just last week I finished a bottle of the Dugois Vin Jaune 2004 I’d opened a month back. It was fascinating to watch the wine improve over the first two weeks and stay at its peak for another fortnight. On first taste it’s a little dry and the acidity stands out from everything else. I imagine this is the wine’s reaction to finally being exposed to oxygen. It comes out swinging. But given a little time to relax – in the fridge with the cork popped back – the harder edges disappear and the wine becomes a thing of beauty. Fragrant, soft and rounded on the palate with some dry tannins on the finish.

But if you’re not nuts like me and you don’t have a few weeks to watch the unveiling, a single decant will reveal this gorgeous wine in all its glory, either next week or in 20 years time.